UH director chairs unique panel on access grid collaboration

ALBURQUERQUE, New Mexico — University of Hawaiʻi Director of High Performance Computing Outreach, Dr. Susan Brown, recently chaired a unique panel which demonstrated the ease of installing and using the Access Grid on laptops during the conference, "Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing" held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Using equipment the panelists had brought with them in their carry-on luggage, including a couple of cameras picked up at a local discount store, the members of the Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) Network, including Brown, were successful in setting up a network infrastructure on which they were able to facilitate multicast routing.

"This demonstration reminds us how easily the Access Grid can be set up on a local area network, such as among sites at a university campus," said Stephenie McLean, director of the MSI Network.

The demonstration was presented during the panel, "Use of the Access Grid at MSI‘s for High Performance Computing Collaborations," chaired by Brown along with panelists Alson Been of Bethune Cookman College, Amado Gonzalez of Florida International University, Marlow Hinton of North Carolina A&T University, Johnnie Spraggins of Our Lady of the Lake, and Tiki Suarez of Florida A&M University. Technical support was provided by Jennifer Teig von Hoffman of Boston University.

Brown noted the local significance of the demonstration to UH. "Through the innovation of this group, we were able to show people what we were talking about, live. Here at UH we have a robust Internet connection, and with a camera and headphone/mic set, any of our faculty or students can have a personal AG node on their laptop or desktop."

For more information concerning various High Performance Computing opportunities at UH visit the HPC Web site: http://www.hawaii.edu/hpc, or email Dr. Brown at stbrown@hawaii.edu.